The people are scratching, as performed by Pete Seeger Chords

[Bb] _ _ _ [F] _ _ [Db] _ _ [C] _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [Cm] _
_ [Bb] Come fill up your glasses, set [G] yourself down, I'll tell you a story of somebody's town.
It isn't too near [Ab] and it's not far [Db] away, it's not a place [F] where I'd want to stay.
[Bb] The people are scratching _ all over [Cm] the street, _ because the [F] rabbits [C] had [Bbm] nothing to eat. _
_ _ _ _ _ The winter came in with a cold icy [Bb] blast, it killed off the flowers and killed off the grass.
[Gb] The rabbits were [Ab] starving because of the freeze, [Db] they started [F] eating the bark on the trees.
[Bb] Now the people are scratching _ all over [Ebm] the street, [C] _ because [F] the rabbits had nothing [Bbm] to eat.
[C] _ _ [Bbm] _ _ _
_ The farmers [Fm] said this sort of thing won't do, our trees [Eb] will be dead when [Bb] the rabbits get through.
[Db] We'll have to poison [Ab] the rabbits, it's [Db] clear, or we'll have no crops [Fm] to harvest next year.
[Bb] Now the people are scratching all [C] over the street, _ [Cm] because the [F] rabbits had [Cm] [Bb] nothing to eat.
_ [C] _
[Bbm] _ _ _ So they bought the poison, [F] spread it around, [G] and soon dead rabbits began to be found.
[Bbm] Dogs ate the rabbits, [Ab] the farmers just [Db] said, we'll poison those [F] rabbits till the last dog is dead.
[Bb] Now the people are scratching all [C] over the street, _ [F] because the rabbits had nothing [Bbm] to eat.
_ _ _ _ _ Now up in the sky there were meat-eating fowls, the dead rabbits poisoned the hawks and the owls. _
Thousands of field mice [Eb] the hawks used to [Bbm] chase were multiplying [F] all over the place.
[Bb] Now the people are scratching _ all over [C] the street, _ because [F] the rabbits had [Bbm] nothing to eat. _ _ _ _
_ _ The fields and the meadows were [F] barren and brown, the mice got hungry and moved [Bbm] into town.
The city folks took [Ab] the farmers' [Db] advice, and all of them started [F] to poison the mice.
[Bb] And now the people are scratching all [C] over the street, _ [F] because the rabbits had [Bbm] nothing to eat.
_ [C] _
[Bbm] _ _ _ There [C] were dead mice in all the apartments [F] and flats, the cats ate [Eb] the mice and the [Bbm] mice killed the cats.
The smell was awful, [Eb] and I'm glad to say [Bbm] I wasn't the man hired [F] to haul them away.
[Bb] The people are scratching _ all [Gb] over the street, _ [Cm] because the [F] rabbits _ had [Bbm] nothing to eat.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Cm] All through the country and [Fm] all through the town, there [Dm] wasn't a dog or a cat to be [Bbm] found.
The fleas asked each other, now [Ab] where can we stay?
[Bbm]
They've been on the [F] people from then till this day.
[Bbm] The people are scratching _ all [Ebm] over the street, [F] _ because the rabbits _ had [Bb] nothing to eat.
_ [C] _ _ [F] _ _
[Bbm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] All you small creatures that live in this land, stay clear of the man with the poisonous hand.
A few bales of hay might keep you alive, but he'll pay more to kill you than to let [F] you survive.
[Bb] The people are scratching _ _ [C] all over the street, _ [F]
because the rabbits had [Bb] nothing to [C] eat.
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_ [F] _ [Bbm] _ _ _ [C] _ [Bb] _ _
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